Highways are divided or undivided roads that typically have design speeds ranging from 70km/h to 100km/h and typically connect to surrounding road networks with unsignalised and signalised intersections and roundabouts.

Highways may also provide direct access to adjacent properties, and generally all road users can access the road. However, highways can vary significantly in terms of design and operating characteristics.

Highways are typically present on the outskirts of urban centres and provide connections between cities, towns, agricultural areas, areas of tourism interests.

Key road safety concerns for motorized traffic on these roads include head-on collision and roadside run-off crashes. Collisions at intersections are also a key concern, particularly on divided road sections. There are often increased conflicts through villages and towns and around their peripheries, especially with pedestrians, motorcyclists and bicyclists, where traffic speeds and flows are not sufficiently managed. The risk is often high for uncontrolled ribbon developments which result in an ambiguity in the function of the highway. These sections of highways require reclassification and strong treatment for road safety as they become shared among different users. Alternatively, a bypass may be justified in some circumstances to take traffic away from urban centres.